


End of the Road

by cucakecody



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Kuron is Shiro (Voltron)'s Clone, Post-Season/Series 05, Season/Series 05 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 00:00:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13891905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cucakecody/pseuds/cucakecody
Summary: Zarkon has been defeated and Lotor has spent the past months leading the Galra empire away from their military tyranny and towards a new age of scientific advancement in order to keep the flow of quintessence without stealing from the Balmera as they used to be. The Paladins decide to pop back to Earth while they have the chance.





	1. Chapter 1

It had been months since Lotor was declared Emperor at the Kral Zera, and with the help of Voltron the rebellions began to grind to a halt. Hunk was the first to breach the idea.

“So, uh guys? Not to ruin the mood but I think we’ve been ignoring a pretty important issue.”

Lance looked up from his game, “What? Zarkon is gone the galra aren’t even a huge threat anymore! Can’t we have like one day where we don’t do anything important?”

“Yeah! Matt and I are working on reprogramming more games to play,” She said through a mouthful of food, “Multiplayer games. Since Lance hasn’t decided to share yet.

“Ah, yeah. As much as I’d love not doing anything for the next 12 quintants, we need to talk now that there’s peace in the galaxy.”

“Ugh, fine.” Lance set the controller down and turned to face Hunk, “What is so important that I had to drag myself away from the final boss,” Lance teased, “Are you getting bored of the food options?”

“Well, there are so many things I could create if we just got a few more spices or even- Wait, that’s not what I wanted to talk about,” Hunk frowned, “But now I want food again.”

Hunk felt a hand grab his shoulder, he saw it was just Shiro and relaxed, smiling in relief.

“What Hunk is trying to say, is that we need to think about going home. Voltron has saved lives and maybe even the whole galaxy, but it isn’t needed anymore. It’s been over a year since any of you were home. I don’t want to bring up sensitive subjects but your families are worried sick and maybe even think you’ve died.”

Pidge and Matt both froze up looking at each other guiltily, “I mean, there is nothing more I want to do but to go home and be with my mom but…” Matt trailed off.

“But what if something happens when we’re away,” Pidge stood up. “What if Lotor turns evil or gets overthrown. What if they take the lions and we aren’t there to stop them.”

Shiro sighed, “I get that you’re concerned, but Allura and Coran are still here, if anything happens they can open a wormhole and come fetch us, but I think it’s time to go back to Earth. I know that I’ve come to think of this place as a home, but we can’t forget what we left behind when we came to fight this war.”

“Yeah but what if…” Lance trailed off, looking around at everyone else in the room, “What about Allura and Coran? Are we supposed to just leave? Like nothing ever happened?”

Shiro sighed and let his hand fall from Hunk’s shoulder, “Lance, I know this is tough. I know that we’ve all become so close, but you still have your family back on Earth.”

Allura walked up next to Shiro, “besides, do you really think we’d let you disappear forever? We’d come visit you, and you could come visit us. I can still create wormholes you know.” Allura looked at the holographic console behind her, “If I keep working at it, I may even be able to use some of the Altean Alchemy I’ve been learning to create a device that would let you come back whenever you wanted, so you wouldn’t have to just wait for us to show up.”

Lance looked down at his hands, “I just… I don’t know if I’m ready to go back home yet. It’s been so long for them; wouldn’t it just be better to let them think we died? They’ve probably moved on, going back now would just open up old wounds.”

“Lance,” Allura walked over to him, “I don’t know what your family is like, but if I found out that someone I loved dearly was alive when I thought they were dead, I wouldn’t be upset or stressed over old wounds, I would be happy and thrilled. Staying away is just going to hurt them more.” She sat down next to him and put her arm over his shoulder.

Shiro smiled at his team. They had become a family in their own right over the past year, but that didn’t mean they could avoid going back home to visit the rest of their family. 

Pidge sat back down, “I guess that settles it.” She looked at Allura, “When do we leave?”

“When can we come back?” Matt ventured. 

Allura walked over to the control panel and pulled up a hologram of where they were. “We can easily wormhole to your planet, but I’m not quite sure the lions should go with you.”

“We can just take one of the pods, I’ve had plenty of practice flying and landing them.” Matt shrugged, “It isn’t as nice as flying in the lions, but it works, and it looks close enough to some of the ships back at the Garrison so Iverson probably won’t shoot it down.”

Shiro laughed, “Yeah, I’d rather not have a repeat of last time.”

“Last time?”

“Oh, right. I forgot you weren’t there. I crash landed near the Garrison and the commander quarantined me.”

“I’m not sure I’m following. That’s just standard protocol.” Matt said.

“Yeah, I know. I didn’t expect to be strapped to a table and sedated.” Shiro shrugged, “It wasn’t fun, but I get it. I’d have done the same thing if a ship crashed near a military base and the only person inside is someone who was presumed dead and then they’re in hysterics talking about aliens.”

“Oh. So I guess we shouldn’t bring up Voltron when we go back?”

“Maybe not at first,” Shiro laughed. “You’ve never seen Earth, have you Allura?”

“No,” she looked over, “but Lance has told me about all the wonderful things there.”

“Why don’t you come with us,” Hunk said, “Not forever, but wouldn’t it be nice to see it? A planet still untouched by war, and for once we’d know more about it than you!” he laughed. 

“Well, I couldn’t leave the castle unattended, but I suppose Coran could stay and keep an eye on it,” she trailed off, thinking. “I suppose that could work,” she smiled at Lance, “I’d love to. I wouldn’t be able to be gone for more than a movement, but I suppose we could all go down, and if you want to come back when I’m leaving, then we can arrange that.”

“Uh, how long is a movement?” Hunk asked.

“It’s like a week, Hunk.” Lance said.

“Coran will be back in a couple of Vargas, and we can leave then.” Allura paused, “I’m going to grab a couple of things to bring with me and start loading it into the pod. I suggest you do the same.” 

Matt went back to working with Pidge and Hunk left to go grab some snacks for the journey. Shiro walked to the edge of the deck, “Did you ever think the day would come when we could go back home?”

Lance walked over to Shiro, “Honestly, Shiro? I expected to die out here. Everything feels so surreal now.”

“I know. It’s still hard to believe that it’s over.” He looked up at the stars, “I’ll enjoy being able to look up and see our stars again. I didn’t think I’d miss being able to tell which constellations were what.”

Lance looked up, “I’ll miss being able to see them so clearly,” He looked over at Shiro, “We’ll come back, right?”

“Of course.” Shiro looked over, Lance seemed absorbed in thought, “Don’t worry about it, Lance, Allura can’t get rid of us that easily,” He softened his voice, “but we need to go back home. You need to tell your family that you’re okay. We all do.”

Lance nodded, “I’m gonna go pack up my stuff, see you in a bit?” he asked, starting to head towards the rooms. He stopped and turned back towards Shiro, “Have you told Keith, yet?”

“What?”

“Keith. You know, that we’re going back? I know it’s been months since we’ve seen him but…” he trailed off, “but he’s still part of the team, we can’t just leave without him.”

“Oh, right. Sorry, I guess i just forgot.” Shiro hesitated, “Keith isn’t- I don’t think he wants to be a part of the team anymore, Lance. He hasn’t spoken to us since even before Lotor got declared Emperor.”

“Still, he gave up everything to come rescue you. He’s nearly died fighting for the same cause we did.” Lance looked at Shiro oddly, “I thought you guys were close, did something happen?”

“No, nothing happened.” Shiro looked down, “Things were different after I came back this time. He pulled away, I didn’t see a reason to force him to stay where he didn’t want to.”

“Right…” Lance frowned, “Just give the Blades a call and let them know, okay.”

“Yeah, I will.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used the terminology of time that they use in the show, but i had to look up a few of them so I'm including the definitions of them below!
> 
> Deca-phoeb: a year  
> Movement: a week  
> Phoeb: a month  
> Varga: an hour

Keith sheathed his blade and held out his hand to help the other blade up. It wasn’t the same as training with the bots on the Castle, but training with another person had helped him learn to adjust his fighting style based on who he fought. All the bots did were add more targets and get faster, it got monotonous after a while. 

“Keith.” Kolivan said, standing at the door to the training room, “The Paladins have requested your presence at the Castle.”

Keith turned to face Kolivan, “Now?” He looked back to find the blade he was training with but he was already training with another person.

“They emphasized that it was a time sensitive issue.” Kolivan started walking out, motioning Keith to follow. 

“Did they say what it was about?” He had to jog to catch up to Kolivan, slowing to a brisk walk once he did, “Did something happen to one of them,” Keith asked, starting to get worried. They hadn’t asked for him since before they rescued Lotor, he saw no reason for them to need him now unless Shiro or Lance had gotten hurt and they needed someone to fly the extra lion. 

“They didn’t say. They did not look worried when we spoke.” Kolivan stopped at the entrance to the hangar, “The Altean said she would open a wormhole near the outside of the base.” Kolivan pointed to one of the ships, “The path to outside is open. Report back to me when you figure out what is needed of you.”

Keith nodded, “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Keith waited for Kolivan to walk away before jogging over to the ship and climbed in, surprised to see another blade. 

They turned around in surprise, relaxing when they saw who it was, “Oh, it’s just you.” She deactivated her mask, “Kolivan asked me to fly you to the Castle of Lions,” she hesitated, “If that’s okay with you.”

It was just Krolia. “Yeah, that’s fine. Did he say why I needed an escort.” He tried to keep the bite out of his voice, he didn’t care that she was there, he was just annoyed that Kolivan didn’t trust him to fly himself out of the base. 

She frowned, “He didn’t say you needed an escort, he wanted to make sure that this ship could get back here if it was needed. He didn’t know how long you’d be gone and we’re still fixing most of the ships.”

“Right,” Keith sat in the copilot seat, “He said Allura would have the wormhole just outside of the base.”

She nodded and took off. He had gotten used to travelling between the black holes and the star, but it was still incredible to think about. By the time they were completely out of the base and no longer at risk of being sucked into the black holes, there was an open wormhole. 

Keith glanced over at Krolia’s moment of hesitation before she pushed the sticks forward and drove through the wormhole and docked in the Castle’s hangar. The hangar’s doors opened as they got out of their ship.

“Keith, it’s good to see you.” Shiro smiled, walking over to them. He looked over at Krolia, “I’m Shiro, the Black Paladin of Voltron, everyone else is upstairs. I didn’t know Keith was bringing someone.”

“Neither did I,” Keith glanced at her, “This is Krolia, my mom.”

Shiro opened his mouth to say something, but just blinked in surprise. 

Krolia smiled and held out her hand. 

Shiro took it, “Sorry, that just took me by surprise.” He smiled, “That’s great, Keith. Come on up, everyone’s been dying to see you.”

They followed him into the elevator, Shiro pressed the button to take them up. 

He leaned on the wall looked at Keith, frowning, “What happened to your face?” He looked at Krolia and noticed the same mark on her face.

Keith reached up to his cheek where the mark was, “Oh, right. I guess I forgot to mention that.” He looked up at Krolia, he wasn’t sure how much he could say about the mission they’d been on.

“There was a mishap with a container of quintessence.” She looked at the mark, “It didn’t hurt him, but it seems there were a few things that didn’t go away.”

“Oh,” Shiro hesitated, “the quintessence brought out your Galra side?”

“I guess. Kolivan didn’t know what to make of it,” Keith shrugged, “I’m just glad it didn’t kill me.”

The elevator doors opened up to the main area where the rest of the Paladins and Allura were waiting. Allura closed the hologram and walked over to meet them as they came into the room. 

“Keith, it has been a while,” She smiled, faltering when she saw the mark on his face. 

All of a sudden, the rest of the Paladins came running over. 

“Keith, buddy we’ve missed you!” Hunk said, squeezing him in a hug that could shatter ribs. He pulled back and let Keith go, much to his relief and dismay. “Did Shiro tell you yet?” He glanced over at Krolia, and shrugged, “Sorry, I get a bit carried away. I don’t think we’ve met.”

Pidge smiled, “I’m Pidge and this is my brother Matt. That’s Allura” she pointed to her, “Shiro, Hunk, and Lance,” she finished pointing at each of the paladins as she said their name’s. 

Keith pointed at Krolia, “Her name’s Krolia, she’s my mom.”

“What?” Lance elbowed his way to the front of the group, “Oh my god. You look exactly alike.” 

Keith and Krolia looked at each other, shrugged, and looked back at Lance. 

“Alright, Lance. Let’s get to the reason we called Keith here.” Shiro said.

“Look at them! They have the exact same ideas of what hair should look like, He has a mullet and she-”

“Lance.” Shiro said, stopping him from finishing his sentence. Lance at least had the decency to look ashamed, “Sorry about him. Hunk, it was your idea, want to explain it?”

“Sure,” Hunk looked back at Keith, grinning, “Well since we haven’t had to use Voltron for anything serious in like a month, we decided that we could take a bit of a break.” He shrugged, “You know, go back to earth for a week. We were gonna show Allura around.”

“Sounds like fun.” Keith said, “What did you need me for then?” 

Lance put a hand on Keith’s arm, “Keith, you’re included in the ‘we’.”

“Oh.” Keith glanced at Krolia, he hadn’t expected this. He thought they needed him to fill in for a while before sending him back to the blades, not to go on a vacation back to Earth. “I don’t know if I can get away for that long.”

“Oh, come on! Kolivan can’t keep you cooped up there forever. One week without you won’t kill them. You can come to, if you want.” Lance smiled at Krolia. 

Keith shrugged helplessly. “If Kolivan needs me, I have to stay. We’ve got too much planned for two of our members to just disappear for that long.”

Lance deflated, “Oh.”

“I can check with Kolivan,” Krolia said, startling Lance, “I don’t know what he has planned for Keith, but there is a chance we could go with you.” 

Allura smiled at her, “Thank you. Do you want me to contact him through the Castle?” 

“Please,” she followed Allura to the controls.

After a moment Kolivan’s face appeared on the holographic screen, and the rest of the group fell into place behind Allura. Keith walked up next to Krolia.

“Is everything alright?” He asked, confusion on his face. 

“Yes, the Paladins simply had a request,” Krolia said. “I don’t have the authority to give them an answer.”

“What was their request?”

“They had planned to go back to Earth for a full movement, they wanted Keith to come and invited me as well.”

Kolivan frowned, “Earth?”

“It wasn’t my idea.” 

“Aw, come on Kolivan! Let Keith live a little, it is his home.” Lance interrupted.

Keith tensed, and he watched Kolivan’s frown deepen. 

“I see.” He went quiet for a moment, pulling up a screen and scrolling through its content. “You both have a crucial mission in a phoeb. Can you assure you will both be back in the movement before it takes place?”

Krolia looked at Allura, “When did you plan on leaving?”

“As soon as Coran gets back,” she looked up at the time, “Which should be within the next Varga or so.”

Krolia looked back Kolivan, “We will be back by then. Do we have permission?”

Kolivan sighed, “Granted. If either of you fail to return in time you will both be taken off missions for the next deca-phoeb.” The screen turned black.

“That went well.” Lance grinned, turning to Pidge and Hunk, “Iverson is going to freak out when we all show up at the Garrison.”

Shiro smiled, “I think we all need to change back into our regular clothes. We won’t need our armor while we’re there.” He looked over at Keith, “and no offense to either of you, but if you show up to Earth wearing that, you’ll look like…” he grinned, “Like you’re from another planet.”


End file.
